A man who passed off himself as a medical doctor for ten years with false documents and also worked at the Federal Ministry of Health has been jailed for at least four years by an FCT High Court.
Martin Ugwu was found guilty on each count of the seven preferred against him by the ICPC, of making false statements to the Chairman of the Federal Civil Service Commission, through which he secured employment.
Handing down the verdict, Justice Idris Kutugi also ordered Ugwu pay all drawn salaries and allowances to the tune of N17.2 million.
The trial judge held that failure of the convict to pay the said amount will amount to an additional one year in prison custody.
The court ordered that Ugwu be taken back to Akure Correctional Center.
Ugwu is also facing charges of blackmail and defamation before a high court in Akure, which is why he is currently being detained at the correctional center in the Ondo state capital.
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Before his sentencing, Ugwu told the court that he is a father of three children and a first-time offender, noting that there is a plot to keep him away from attending other cases before other courts in which he is an accused person, urging the court to tamper justice with mercy.
The prosecution lawyer however told the court that similar cases before various court against Ugwu showed that he is “perpetual offender”.
In February 2016, the ICPC, filed a 7-count charge before Justice Idris Kutigi, against Ugwu, for making false statement to the Chairman of the Federal Civil Service Commission, through which he secured employment into the Federal Ministry of Health, in 2006.
He was said to have drawn salaries and allowances up to N17.2 million between 2006 and 2016, after working for about ten years as a medical doctor at the Federal Ministry of Health with the fake documents.
Ugwu further used the fake documents to procure a staff identity card bearing the name of Dr. George Daniel Davidson, apply for annual leave as well as a postgraduate training programme that would have conferred on him, a Masters degree in the Field of Epidemiology
Ugwu is also standing trial at a Federal High Court in Abuja.
He was arraigned on a five-count charge for impersonation and stealing of a Bachelor of Medicine Degree from the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria.
In the criminal charge to which he pleaded not guilty, Ugwu was also alleged to have stolen Bachelor of Surgery Degree and National Youth Service Corps certificates belonging to the same George Daniel Davidson
Ugwu, who hails from Benue State was employed as a Senior Medical Officer in 2006 on grade level 12 with the Federal Ministry of Health, where he was alleged to have been drawing monthly salary and allowances.
He was apprehended during the verification of professional skills of resident doctors conducted by the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, where he presented the certificate in to secure clearance.
(Editor: Oloyede Oworu)
